Specific Benefits Come from Linking the Sales Process and Sales Training

When we work with clients to create a common language and sales process, that’s just the start. A process by itself is just a process. It needs to be absorbed and put into practice. It needs to become part of day-to-day behaviors. It needs to be second nature.

Depending on the organization, this can be straightforward or complex, depending on how well sales professionals understand what they’re doing as they go from one step to the next.

That’s where Richardson Sales Performance sales training, reinforcement, and coaching come in. By linking the sales process and sales training, participants can see what they are currently doing, how it fits within the desired behaviors, and where adjustments are needed. A process that may have seemed overwhelming to start becomes a welcome roadmap that breaks down each step, and they can see how the things that they currently do fit within the overall scope.

At the end of training sessions, I’ve had participants tell me the structure of the sales process is “awesome” because now they have something to guide what they’re doing. They know that they can always refer back to the steps of the sales process and make adjustments, as necessary, for their specific situation.

It certainly is possible to train salespeople without linking content to a sales process. The training would incorporate information from interviews with sales professionals and managers of the activities in the process of selling and the requisite skills required to succeed. The training then focuses on skills required to succeed in client engagement. It doesn’t focus on using those skills during a series of engagements for different stages of the sales process. When the two are tied together, the sales process and the skills, we can address the specific activities that sales professionals within that organization need to do, and we can focus on the skills needed to do so successfully.

In some organizations, for example, the only way to sell a product is by first completing a proof of concept or product trial. If that’s the case, our training will include vocabulary and steps to achieve this requirement, and we role-play the scenario.

With training specific to the sales process, sessions can include the right pieces and resonate with participants because it’s matched to their environment. At Richardson Sales Performance, we customize training to such an extent that content is aligned with the skills that participants need at each stage of the sales process. As a result, sales professionals are quicker to internalize the training and improve their performance.

The sales program makes the sales process come alive, helping sales professionals understand what is expected and change what they’ve been doing. As evidence, consider what our long-term clients tell us: conversion rates and sales cycles are shorter as a result of training based on the sales process.

In some organizations, we introduce a new sales process and then revisit it six months later with managers. We coach them specifically on the common vocabulary and steps in the process, and they often report seeing faster closes on sales, maybe bigger sales overall, and even expanding sales with existing clients. Many clients come back to us year after year because the vocabulary and process help new sales professionals come up to speed much earlier while giving established sales professionals who are almost as good as they can be a boost in performance.

What really matters is whether the training and the process makes any difference in sales results. Our clients tell us that, yes, that’s the case. Even more telling, sales professionals go back to the office and know how to implement the new process on Day One.